More happenings in April............

April is a busy month for us..with baseball for James, softball for Jazmin. Jaz is also in dance and piano, though I think next year she may have to make a choice as she now wants to do cheerleading as well! James' basketball team finished up in 2nd place in their tournament, not too shabby, they played some great b-ball. He wants to stick with it, so in the fall he'll start on the junior high team. If he works just a little harder, he might be a starter.

Finally got Judi's Social Security card ordered, now have to get her birth certificate, I am such a procrastinator! Dad and I are also having a huge garage sale on May 2nd! I wonder how I ever fit work into this schedule, but I better remember, cause I go back to work fulltime June 1, but am working some evening hours now because they basically guilted me into it.

I'm happy to say Jazmin, I think, has morphed into her role as big sister. When she comes home, Judi follows her everywhere. She (Judi) still seems a little jealous of her big sis, yet wants to do everything, get everything, and be everything Jaz does. And she kind of goes into baby mode when Jaz is first home from school, wanting to be held and carried. But then when Jaz says, "come on, Judi, let's play", she's off like a shot!

Her English is just flowing along, new words every day; her newest is "no", which she likes to use frequently! And "nobody"! Where did that come from??

Something she does i find soooo funny, is when we go to the store and she picks up toy after toy and I say, let's put that away, we're not getting that today - she will say in a forlorn tone, "ooooooh, noooooo". But she puts it away! So far, no tantrums! She pouts when she doesn't get her way; thank goodness! I've been through some whopper tantrums with my older kids; glad to not have that to deal with, at least for the time being!

Some new pics to enjoy..............

Easter and Judi's birthday on April 14th

Suffice to say, Judi likes Easter because not only did we have an egg hunt at my Dad's place where she discovered not only the fun of finding eggs, but that they had CANDY in them! Then we had a small birthday party for her at the park. We invited a few friends who'd gotten to know Judi in the month she'd been home. She had a blast and when she saw the playground, she said "Wow!!". The pics tell the rest of the story.

The "eyes" have it!

Wow, been awhile since I posted! I could not resist putting these pictures of the girls' eyes on here; we were just goofing around with the camera, but I thought they turned out so cute! Can you guess whose eyes are whose? On another note, here's the scoop........Judi is just fine! Her CAT scan showed no atrophy whatsoever, and all her bloodwork came back fine. Children's Mercy did say she'd had Hep A in the past and now had immunity. So knock on wood, our special needs little girl is completely normal! Well.....unless stubbornness and an inexhaustible energy level are special needs! We praise our Heavenly Lord for his blessings on all our children, we are truly fortunate to have these great 4 kids to enrich our lives!
Judi continues to settle in and try to establish herself as the boss; she and I have really great days together. She occasionally tries to assert her will over mine, most notably at nap time, but she concedes if I push the issue firmly. The biggest thing that works with Judi is simple firmness; I'm the parent, you're the child, period, my job is to love and protect you, even if you don't like being prevented from doing something you think is fun!
She is really starting to use English spontaneously now; her vocabulary includes "wait", "I fink so", "night, night", "one more", "Hello, Kitty", "cookie", "lotion", "hello", "bye-bye". I believe she understands a great deal of what we say now; whether she chooses to listen is another story.

She and Jaz are still working it out; Jazmin has taken on kind of a bossy big sister role in a gentle way, but Judi does NOT like her telling her what to do! She will play with Judi on days when we're all home together, but during the week we're so busy with basketball games and now baseball and softball, we're not home that much! Jazmin is in machine-pitch with Jr as the coach; she seems to really enjoy playing, hope that lasts. We're going to try tee-ball for Judi, I showed her once how to hold the bat and run the bases and she had it down, plus I think it'll help her run off some energy.

James is finishing up his basketball season; he's really become quite good; still not a starter, but with a little more practice, he'll get there. He wants to continue all through high school, so you know where we'll be all the time!

Jessica, our oldest, is just concentrating on grades right now. We had to do a worksheet for all 4 high school years and she was really excited about that; she likes to have things planned out, like I did at her age. She's been a huge help looking after the girls' at "gege's" games.

If I don't post again til after the weekend, everyone have a Happy Easter! Judi's birthday is the 14th, but we're going to celebrate it Sunday night with just us and then have a party on the 18th.

Enjoy the pics of my crew!

All's Well (so far).....

Such beautiful princesses, my Jazmin and Judi! They have found at least one thing in common; they both love to dress up! Jazmin has taken to taking Judi's arm and they will parade around the house singing "da dum da dum"! So cute! I took these pictures when they were at it; I just love this picture of Judi. My little angel with the slightly bent halo!

As far as Judi's medical tests, so far all have come back normal!! Praise be to Him for his blessings on this child! Her bloodwork and CAT scan showed absolutely nothing significant; after her final appointment at Children's Mercy in KC, we'll know for sure.

Other than that, we're keeping busy with Judi's antics, James' basketball games, and everything else that goes with being a big family. Only 3 more kids and we'd be the Waltons!

Like sands through the hourglass...............

I have been Judi's mother for exactly 18 days today; each day it gets easier and more believable. That may sound strange, but sometimes it just still seems so unreal after 13 months, that she's here! And wow, is she here! Everyone knows when Judi's around; she's almost constantly talking, laughing, squealing, or giggling. It's when you DON'T hear her that one MUST go find her, because it usually means she's found something to occupy her interest that isn't desirable.
She is becoming much more affectionate with me over the last couple of days...........I find the more patient I am and don't stress over every little behavior issue, the more she seems to respond to me.
And I've discovered that she, like Jazmin, is very willing to help do things, like today when I was emptying the dishwasher. She helped me empty and fill it and I told her "good girl!" She knows this phrase very well, because I use it often. Can I teach this aspect of her personality to my older two???
Couple of things to note; Judi has slept 11-12 hours the last 3 nights! Once she's asleep, she doesn't wake up; she's down for the count! When she wakes up, she calls "Ma-Ma!" and waits for me to show up before she'll get out of bed. Also, tomorrow I'm getting the results of all her labs, immune titers, and CAT scan. The doctor's office told me there's no cause for concern, but I want to read it for myself. I think I can safely say, however, that whatever is up there in her little head, it certainly has not affected her intelligence! She's picking up more and more English phrases, like "be nice", "this-a-way", "goodnight", "be carefy (be careful)".
Something else I found that's helped a lot is a website with 6 pages of phrases to use with kids her age; I went through and said them all and she laughed at me after each one! I don't know if I was saying them funny, or if she just thought it was funny that Mommy said something she could understand! I used some of them today and she knew exactly what i was asking; now if I just knew what she was saying in return!
Will post some new pics tomorrow and the lab results; hopefully good news all around...stay tuned...

Sleep..what a precious commodity

Bringing us up to date:
Thursday night, we finally got Judi to bed at 11pm, she slept til 4, but Jazmin was up at 3! I've been sleeping on the couch in case Judi calls out or needs something, so still haven't got back to my own bed! Finally got Judi back to sleep at 5 and sent Jazmin to Jr, where she fidgeted until time for school.
Friday, I took Judi to the doctor because her cough is not improving; it's so bad at night; I don't know how she's sleeping through it. Hard to believe the pollution in Guangzhou would be that bad. The doc gave her a breathing treatment and said to continue the antibiotic. She said there's no redness in her throat, ears, or fever, so who knows?? Monday, we have to get her blood drawn for titers, general blood workup, and a CAT scan. I also asked the doctor about possible heart disease, so she checked her right finger and right foot; they matched within two percent, which she said was an indicator that there was nothing wrong, nor did she hear a murmur either. We want the CAT scan to see how it compares to the one from China, so Monday will be a rough day for Judi.
Saturday we stayed home all day; gave Judi one nap, and got her to bed at 10:30; yeahhh! She slept until 5am; 6 whole hours of sleep, except that I finally caught her creeping crud, so now I'm all sniffly and coughing! At least it waited until I was home!
We had a busy day today, Sunday. We went to church, where everyone wanted to see Judi; she shut down for the most part and showed her shy alter ego. After church, she loosened up, and we went to our local Chinese restaurant for lunch, where she acted like she didn't even know the Chinese language! She zones out and stares straight ahead; weird!
Then we had a birthday party, where her fireball alter ego came right out as soon as she saw the bouncy house and trampolines; she loved it all; I definitely see gymnastics in this girl's future! She also loved her first piece of birthday cake! Then we went briefly to our Chinese school because again, everyone wanted to see her. She promptly fell asleep through it all, so they all think of course, that she's a little angel! I said, just watch out, because her halo's bent a little!
Came home and settled in for the night, and guess what, we finally got those darn science projects done; they're due tomorrow! I'm so glad they're over with; I dread them every year.
Now for the drumroll.............Judi went to bed at 9pm! So what am I doing instead of sleeping, I'm blogging!
I will say now after 5 days home, Judi seems to be calming down and just having fun. There are longer stretches now where I don't feel I have to watch her every move, and she and Jazmin are doing better; I hope that continues; their relationship will take awhile to develop, I think. She still will try some stuff, and cries when Daddy puts her in time out, but she quits pretty quick, and I'm learning to be more patient with some of her undesirable behaviors. I'm slowly learning to love my new daughter; she is spunky, and funny, and already has James and Jessica under her thumb, especially James; he's a sucker for a pretty face! My favorite times are at night when the lights are low, and everyone else is quiet, and tonight, she came and sat in my lap and wrapped up in her China blanket for some "Mommy" time. That's when she can just be a little girl who needs to know she doesn't have to be so tough anymore.

HOME!!!

Well, we made it! 9 out of 9 flights safe and sound! Tuesday, the day before we left Guangzhou, we went to the Yuntai Botanical Gardens. It was so beautiful, the prettiest thing I've seen so far this trip. Jr stayed in the hotel with Judi, because her cough has come back and gotten worse; she really sounds congested; we even started her on the antibiotic we brought from home in preparation for the airplane rides home. So Jazmin and I trekked off; and all the pictures you see (except for the ones Jazmin is in), Jazmin took. She was my official photographer for this site. She loved it and I have to admit, did a great job with the pictures!

When we got back, we walked down the shopping district to the Pizza Hut (I wanted to bring a menu back to give to our Pizza Hut here for menu ideas!). They have such a variety of stuff; I would never get tired of it like we do here. Then back to the hotel for the very important oath-taking. Got the girls "decorated" for Judi's big day and off we went.

There was a play area and I watched how Judi interacted with other kids; as I expected, she bossed them around and most of them avoided her after that; we'll definitely have to work on that! Then we all took the oath and the lady had those of us who'd been there twice be acknowledged. What was really cool was there was a 14-year old being adopted who was crying with happiness; the family looked really happy.

That evening, we went to dinner with the Hammonds, Julie Thompson, and the Blackburns; a great meal with really neat people; and we all shared the Whitman's sampler I brought, which I had to keep spinning away from Judi; we now know how much she loves chocolate! Or should I say any sweet at all?! She will stash candy in every nook and cranny and next thing I know I'm catching her eating it. I'm going to have to "Judi-proof" my house, since I do like my chocolate as well!

After staying up late packing, we got to the airport and all went well up until Dallas. During our long flight (only 10 and 1/2 hours, yeah!) the girls fell asleep the last 5 hours of it! That didn't help me though, as they squirmed throughout all of it, so I couldn't do more than doze. Then at Dallas, we got held on the plane because a little boy also adopted from China got really sick and went in an ambulance to the hospital. We dont' know what he had, but the parents had caught it too, so we had to fill out some paperwork. THEN, we finally got off, only to be held up a ridiculously long time in Immigration. By the time we got done, we had 45 " to make our flight (we had a 3-hour layover!) and still hadn't gone through customs!

We scrambled and thanks to a delay, made it with 20" to spare. The flight home was quick, and Dad, Jessica, and James were there to meet us. Our older kids were so glad to see us; they looked so BIG after just seeing little girls and boys for two weeks! On the drive home, of course, both little ones fell asleep, which meant Miss Judi was up THE ENTIRE NIGHT!!!.

Jazmin stayed up til 1am cause she's slept so much on the plane and then got back up again at 5, ready for school. Judi pitched a heck of a fit when all 3 kids took off on the bus and about 10am she and I crashed for 4 hours. Then up and to the orthodontist for Jessica, but when I picked them all up, Jazmin dropped off to sleep in the car and only woke up for dinner and then went back to bed. So we'll see what tomorrow brings; hopefully more sleep!